Apparatus for producing tubular members



y 23, 1953 c. E. COATES ET AL 2,647,193

APPARATUS FOR PRODUCING TUBULAR MEMBERS Filed Dec. 28, 1951 c i I o J HI 22 m," '5: :io Z/- V; 13 H 23 26 4 INVENTORS.

CLYDE E. ConTes fiRTHuR L. WILL/HHS 21 @224? @MZM' Patented July 28,1953 APPARATUS FOR PRODUCING MEMBERS- Clyde E. Goates and Arthur Lwilliams warren, Ohio, assignors to Federal-Machine & Welder Company,Warren,.0hio,-:a; corporation of Ohio Application December 28, 1 951,serial No'. 263,928

6 Claims.

Our invention relates to apparatus for producingtubular members, moreparticularly to appa ratusfor forming tubular members from sheet metal,and the principal object of our invention is to provide new and improvedapparatus of the character described.

In: apparatus of this nature it has been customary to provide meanswhich cooperate to join contiguous edges of the tubular member in seamrelation. These seam-forming means are generally supported at the freeends of spaced-apart arms which are secured to and project outwardly ofa supporting structure. Since the tubular member is ordinarily formedabout the lower arm, passed between the seam-forming means and the seamformed by pressure actuated means, it will be apparent that in formingrelatively long, small diameter tubular members, the necessarily smallsize lower arm will have a tendency to deflect excessively, thusseriously effecting the quality of the seam.

In the prior art, this deflection has been alleviated by making thelower arm large. enough to withstand the forces involved. This, however,has led to excessively large lower arms, and in any event to lower armsso large that it hasbeen impossible to form relatively small diametertubular members.

Our invention provides apparatus which can produce tubular members of agreater length to diameter ratiothan has been heretofore possible, whileat the same time providing apparatus which is lighter and less costlythan that of the prior art, and is capable of producing high.qual-- ityand uniform tubular members.

In the drawing accompanying this specifica-' tion and forming a part ofthis application, there is shown, for the purpose of illustration, anembodiment which our invention may assume, and in this drawing:

Figure l is a fragmentary side'elevational view of apparatus embodyingour invention, and

Figure 2 is a fragmentary transversesectional view generallycorresponding to the line 2-'-2 of Figure 1.

Our improved apparatus for producing a tubular member is fragmentarilyshown in the drawings to comprise a main housing I and upper and lowerarms i i and l [respectively which project laterally therefrom. Thesearms support certain mechanisms as will laterbe shown.

A plurality of rolls l3 are rotatably carried in housings I 4' supportedin any suitable manner, such as by the upper arm H as herein shown, andthese rolls are driven by shafts [5 which are 2 connected to" asource ofpower contained within the main'housing Ill: The rolls [55 comprise theroll forming unit and, as shown in Figure 2, the rolls are adaptedto'form sheet material into a tubular shape so that it coils about thelower arm.

A-Z bar lit-is presently securedby any appropriate means-to the upperportion of the lower arm 12-. Vertically offset, longitudinallyextendingslots are provided in opposite faces of the 2 bar as shown inFigure 2. (It is to be understood that all or part of the 2 bar may bereplaced by rollers serving the same function.) This" construction iscommon to electric resistance welding equipment of the seam-weldingtypeand" detailed description is therefore believed torbeunnecessary. Aswill later be described, the slots in the Z bar maintain thelongitudinally extending ends of the coiled sheet material in properalignment for the subsequent seam forming operation.

the present embodiment a lug 24 projects upwardly from the 2 bar i5, anda tension rod 25,..ha ving1 abifurcated lower end portion 26, issecured: to the lug by means of pin 21. The upper end. of the rod 25'may extend into the upper arm l lyand'the-rod may be secured thereto byany desirable means, a nut 28 threaded upon the rod presently beingshown.

Welding means are presently employed for joiningthe'two' edges of thecoiled sheet, seam welding wheels. being. used in the embodimentillustrated in the drawing. Figure 1 shows a conventional seam weldingmachine comprising a lower'weldin'g-wheel l Trotatably carried by thelower arm I2, and an' upper wheel i8 rotatably c'arried 'by ahead I 9that is slidable vertically in waysprovided by theupp'er arm I I. Afluid cylinder '20 m'a'ybearranged as shown to provide for pressuredownwardly upon the head IS) in order to urgethe-welding-wheels togetherwith the requir'ed 5 amount of I force.

The welding wheels il and it are presently drivenby the following means:A drive knurl 2| is spring pr'essed" against the periphery of the upperwheel I18, the knurl being driven from a power unit within'the housing I0 through a shaft 22 an'da'." gear box 23. The lower wheel in this caseis not'driven directly but is free to rotate with theup'pe'r wheel inresponse to the tangential forces produced thereby.

In operation, flat'stock may be rolled at a position removed from" thewelding apparatus and the tubular form may then be disposed about thelower arm, or the rolls [3 may be positioned as shown in the drawing sothat the flat stock is rolled and simultaneously positioned about thelower arm. As the stock S emerges from the rolls 13 in the presentlydisclosed embodiment, it may be guided by guides (not shown) so that theemerging edge enters the right-hand slot of the 2 bar 16 as viewed inFigure 2. When the trailing end of the stock drops from the rolls, itenters the left hand slot of the Z bar and this position of the stock,with both ends secured in respective slots, is shown by dot-dash linesin Figure 2.

Conventional means, not shown, may then operate to move the stockbetween the welding wheels for the purpose of joining the two contiguousedges together. After the stock has moved from the portion of the 2 baradjoining the rolls l3, it will be apparent that another piece of stockmay be fed to the rolls and thus another tubular member formed.

As disclosed in Figure 1, the rod 25 is disposed between the formingrolls l3 and the weld wheels ll-lS. Thus, the tubular member may beformed by the rolls l3 and the longitudinal edges may be positioned inthe slots of the 2 bar prior to the time the tubular member is movedtoward the weld wheels lll8. Accordingly, the tubular member is heldclear of the rod 25 and its connection with the lower arm I2 and nointerference therebetween is set up since the tubular member leaves the2 bar after it has passed the rod 25. The rod 25 forms a brace betweenthe arms to eifectively minimize deflection thereof which is ordinarilycaused by pressure application of the weld wheels.

In View of the foregoing it will be apparent to those skilled in the artthat we have accomplished at least the principal object of our inventionand it will also be apparent to those skilled in the art that theembodiment herein described may be variously changed and modified,without departing from the spirit of the invention, and that theinvention is capable of uses and has advantages not herein specificallydescribed, hence it will be appreciated that the herein disclosedembodiment is illustrative only, and that our invention is not limitedthereto.

We claim:

1. Apparatus for joining contiguous edges of sheet material formed totubular shape comprising joining means including at least two membersadapted to clamp said contiguous edges therebetween, arm meanssupporting one of said members, said arm means extending outwardly of asupport and through said tubular shape, positioning means secured tosaid arm means for holding said contiguous edges in predeterminedalignment, and means secured to a support and connectable tosaidpositioning means for supporting an extended portion of said armmeans.

2. Apparatus for joining contiguous edges of sheet material formed totubular shape comprising welding electrodes arranged to join saidcontiguous edges, arm means supporting one of said electrodes, said armmeans extending outwardly of a support and through said tubular shape, Zbar means secured to said arm means for holding said contiguous edges inpredetermined alignment, and means connectable to said 2 bar means forsupporting an extended portion of said arm means.

3. Apparatus for joining contiguous edges of sheet material formed totubular shape comprising a support, spaced-apart upper and lower armssecured to and extending outwardly of said support, a seam-welding wheelcarried by each arm in spaced relation with respect to said support, Zbar means secured to said lower arm for holding said contiguous edges inpredetermined alignment, and means connecting said Z bar means to saidupper arm for minimizing deflection of said arms.

4. Apparatus for producing tubular members from sheet materialcomprising a support, spaced-apart upper and lower arms secured to andextending outwardly of said support, means for forming said sheetmaterial to a tubular shape and for disposing said tubular shape aboutsaid lower arm, a seam-welding wheel carried by each arm in spacedrelation with respect to said support, said seam-welding wheels beingarranged to join the contiguous edges of said tubular shape, 2 bar meanssecured to said lower arm for holding said contiguous edges inpredetermined alignment, and means connecting said Z bar means to saidupper arm for minimizing deflection of said arms.

5. Apparatus for producing tubular members from sheet materialcomprising a support, spaced-apart upper and lower arms secured to andextending outwardly of said support, a plurality of rolls for formingsaid sheet material to a tubular shape, said rolls being arranged inmanner to cause said tubular shape to coil about said lower arm, aseam-welding wheel carried by each arm in spaced relation with respectto said support, said seam-welding wheels being arranged to join thecontiguous edges of said tubular shape, 2 bar means secured to saidlower arm for holding said contiguous edges in predetermined alignment,and means connecting said 2 bar means to said upper arm for minimizingdeflection of said arms.

6. Apparatus for producing tubular members from sheet materialcomprising a support, a pair of arms extending from said support inspacedapart relation, a seam welding wheel carried by each arm inposition spaced from said support, roll means for forming the sheetmaterial to tubu- Iar form and for disposing such tubular form about oneof said arms between the weld wheel carried thereby and said support, aZ bar carried by said one arm and having means for receiving thecontiguous edge surfaces of said tubular form when the latter isdisposed about said one arm and holding said edge surfaces inpredetermined relation, said receiving means being elongated in thelongitudinal direction of said one arm, roviding for feed of saidtubular form to said eld wheels, said edge surfaces leaving said reciving means and entering between said weld wh els and being joined bypressure and heat eifected by said weld wheels, and brace meansextending between'said arms for opposing deflection thereof caused byoperation of said weld wheels, said Z bar holding said tubular formclear of said brace means.

CLYDE E. COATES. ARTHUR L. WILLIAMS.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS NumberName Date 904,771 Fulton Nov. 24, 1908 1,133,578 Rietzel et al. Mar. 30,1915

